“But we went back,” spoke up Fred quickly. “We didn’t give up. Besides, Mr. Sanders, I noticed last night when we came down the stairway that all four of us had all we could do to keep up with you.”
“So you did. So you did,” admitted Mr. Sanders laughingly. “But I did not run because I was afraid of spooks.”
“Neither did we,” said Fred. “We thought when we had a man along with us that we would be protected and everything would be safe. But when we saw him leaving the old Meeker House, faster than any of us boys could go, we thought our safest plan was to try to keep up with him. Something might happen to him, you know. If he was in trouble he might need our help.”
Mr. Sanders laughed heartily at Fred’s assertions and then said quickly, “Who is that man coming across the field?”
All the boys looked quickly in the direction in which Mr. Sanders pointed and a moment later George said in a low voice, “That’s our tramp.”
“I thought he would be here,” said Mr. Sanders. “Now perhaps we can find out a little more than we knew before.”
All five awaited the approach of the man who indeed proved to be the one about whom they had been talking.
As the tramp came near, his face lighted up with a smile as he cordially said, “Good morning. Good morning. You’re early on the scene of our disaster last night.”
“Yes,” responded George. “We saw you last night and then we lost sight of you in the crowd and couldn’t find you again.”
“Well, here I am,” said the tramp, smiling. “If you still want to see me all you have to do is to look at me. I never thought before that I was very much to look at.”